Sexual and Gender Base
Violence: Is there a guarantee for the safety and Equality of our women and
Girls in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone?
By: Ibrahim Sei Kamara
In 2002, Sierra Leone emerged from an
eleven-year civil war characterized by unbearable crimes such as mutilation,
rape, and sexual slavery, to name but a few. Women suffered the brunt of
the conflict and experienced some of the
most horrific acts of violence during the war. Yet, more than ten years
following the end of the civil conflict, women,
and young girls still continue to suffer from violence and discrimination. The
Constitution of Sierra Leone Act Number (6) of 1991, clearly states that no law
should discriminate against any person on the basis of gender, but in practice,
women continue to face discrimination under formal, Islamic, and customary
laws. Sexual and Gender-based violence is a global phenomenon that takes various
forms in different contexts, depending on the culture of a given society or
community, to the extent that those who are supposed to implement and protect
the laws are generally ignorant or negligent in performing their role.
According
to recent research, Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in West Africa suggests that this problem
becomes predominantly acute in post-conflict countries. To such extent, it is
widely estimated that during the decade-long civil unrest in Sierra Leone from
1991 - 2002, up to 250,000 women and girls were victims of SGBV. Rape was used
steadily by all blocs and, although peace was declared in 2002, the distress of
war has left scars which run through the fabric of households, families, and communities.
In
the absence of formal law enforcement, especially in rural and challenged
regions, and in light of the persistence of patriarchy and dearth of resources
for women’s organizations, this story seeks to explore the value of engaging
with men and boys in order to address the prevalence of
SGBV in Sierra Leone. This is critical not only because SGBV affects both men
and women, but because men’s participation in SGBV-interventions enables them
to actively change community perceptions and values regarding SGBV.
Various forms of SGBV issues
in post-conflict Sierra Leone includes
but not limited to domestic violence, sexual assault, including rape of adults and minors,
rape in marriage and school-related sexual abuse, as well as harmful practices
such as female genital mutilation (FGM). It is difficult to know how many cases
of gender violence go unreported, but many in Sierra Leone agree the country
faces a serious problem (McKay, 2004; Park, 2006; Shaw, 2007).
Nonetheless, in a nation as
desperately under-resourced as Sierra Leone, having been seriously affected by the recent Ebola outbreak in May 2014, and still struggling with a civil
war-ravaged infrastructure, there are serious barriers to what legislative
reforms can achieve. Further, in terms of law enforcement to implement this
legislation, research shows that household violence is rarely considered a
matter for the police. In some rural regions, in particular where traditional patriarchal
power structures remain strong, cases of SGBV are often mediated by respected
relatives and community elders: typically men (Denov and Maclure, 2006).
Over the last couple of years, the Centre for
Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) has recorded numerous instances of sexual
and gender-based violence (SGBV), particularly in the provinces with high
reported cases from the North of the
country. While there have been some gains in terms of reducing SGBV across the
country, recent data obtained from the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) show that
there are rising incidents of domestic violence in the Western Area,
particularly in aslum or low-income
communities. At Mabayla, a slum in the
eastern part of Freetown, an average of five complaints are filed with the
police monthly by women who suffer physical, economic, and psychological
violence.
Even more excruciating for victims is the
unsupportive role of community chiefs in efforts at promoting justice and
accountability for such crimes. Police records show that victims of domestic
violence in the Mabayla community, who file complaints with the police, are
allegedly harassed and intimidated by local chiefs for doing so.
What typically unfolds is that anoffender
of domestic violence who is invited for questioning by the police would in turn
file a complaint with a local chief, claiming that his wife has ‘brought shame’
to the community by reporting a family matter to the police. The chief would, in turn,sold the victim (woman) for
bringing shame to the community and her family before imposing a stiff fine on
her. So, in addition to the physical pain,
she may have suffered, the chief would first humiliate her before imposing a
very stiff fine. These huge fines have had far-fetched economic implications on
the women, and have in some cases, stalled their economic activities. The women
are ultimately forced to rely on the men for financial support, which is
generally unreliable.
So
what are the Sierra Leone Police and the Justice and legal system doing about this?
Police Officers at the Eastern Police Station in
Freetown, whose mandate is to maintain law and order, told CARL employees that
most of the cases are hardly prosecuted in court. When police officers admit
that complaints relating to domestic violence fall through as a result of
incomplete judicial or investigation processes, Sierra Leoneans have got to be
worried.
Clearly,some Sierra Leoneans talked to during this investigation said that the police should not be entirely blamed for
this state of affairs. Part of the reason for the unsuccessful prosecutions of
SGBV cases is that the complainants (the victim) do not cooperate with the
court until the end of the process. The police say the women stop
cooperating as soon as they realize that their spouses have filed a
counter-complaint to local Chiefs. Police say the women are more likely to obey
instructions from local chiefs than the police. Part of the reason is the
tremendous respect and fear that local chiefs command from the people. Most
residents in challenged communities hail from the provinces, where chiefs are
extremely powerful.
Police say it’s almost impossible to arrest
local chiefs who undermine judicial processes as the police will “have to
follow a lot of procedures, including going through the Ministry of Internal
Affairs”.
Based on the details of the Act, among other
things, criminalizes out-of-court settlements as well as any actions that
expressly or otherwise undermine efforts at promoting justice for SGBV crimes.
For now, it appears as though most victims of domestic violence in the Mabayla
community feel a lot more compelled to respect the decisions of local chiefs -
even where the chiefs are acting out of their jurisdiction, rather than
cooperating with judicial processes aimed at delivering justice. This is
probably due to the lengthy period of trials, which has somewhat undermined public
confidence in the judicial system.
The Sierra Leone Family Support Unit(FSUs) was set up in 2001,a specialized unit created solely within the Sierra Leone Police to provide a response to the outbreak of violence against women and children during and in the aftermath of the civil war. CARL’s report found that the lack of funding for the FSUs greatly reduces the police officers’ ability to investigate cases. They often times have to request from the victims themselves to pay for calls or to cover transportation costs to aid their investigation. The FSU has a shortage of staff, office space, vehicles, bikes, etc.
Regrettably, the SGBV situation
across the country got worse within the Ebola crisis. The Northern Province
which is the most ill equipped of all the provinces had a total of 49 reported
rape cases in the first 2 months of 2015. The highest number of cases ever
recorded relating to SGBV. Elsewhere, Sexual and gender-based violence and rape have
continued to increase.
According to a police investigation, there
were 2201 cases of sexual assault in 2014 an almost 50% increase in cases from
the year before when it was 1485 cases. CARL reports that the Sierra Leone
Police needs $30,000 a month to adequately fund its Family Support Units. Every
police station in the country is expected to have an FSU and every FSU should
be adequately staffed with male and female social workers from the Ministry of
Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs
(MSWGCA) as well as police officers.
In the face of all these challenges, a significant change as a result of the
rebel war is the increased and sustained activism of women advocating for peace,democracy, and good governance. During
and after the civil war, women’s groups, local organizations, and human right
bodies including donors have responded greatly to the disruption of social
services and community-based structures by developing networks and alternative
coping strategies to solve SGBV related problems such as food scarcity, sexual
violence, and shortcomings in health and education provision. Recently, a
number of organization’s have also begun working with men and boys to become
more active participants in efforts to end the culture of tolerance and
impunity surrounding SGBV in the North of Sierra Leone, a region with the highest prevalence of SGBV. Strategies have
included training programmes that incorporate sensitization and
awareness-raising about the importance of prosecuting perpetrators of SGBV that
target both officials in the legal sector, as
well as authorities within the communities
affected,would help to ameliorate this problem, and also
strategies that integrate consultations with community leaders, traditional heads, and local organizations across the
country to identify how to address the issue would be useful. However, these
organizations have very limited resources and capacity for sustaining the
implementation of these projects in the long-term, making government- and donorsupport critical to their ongoing activities.
